Crews struggle to keep up with mowing

City workers are helping private contractors catch up with the work.

City workers are helping private contractors catch up with the work.

June 24, 2007|NANCY J. SULOK Tribune Columnist

The South Bend Department of Code Enforcement issues roughly 7,500 mow orders each season for private properties that are neglected by their owners, according to Director Catherine Toppel. It's a daunting task that was done until this year by Code Enforcement workers. But Code, as part of the city's belt-tightening efforts, eliminated 10 positions this year from its grass-cutting and cleanup crew. The city decided it could save money by signing a contract instead with the Center for the Homeless Landscape Services to take over the mowing for $25 a lot. So how's it going? Not as well as city officials had hoped. The CFH crews have fallen behind in their lawn-mowing duties this year, so the city is supplementing their work with extra crews made up of city workers. They are scrambling now to catch up, with crews working into the evenings and on Saturdays. Matt Chlebowski, director of central services for the city, is responsible for overseeing the lawn-mowing crews. Under the new procedures, Code continues to cite property owners for not taking care of their grass and other foliage, Toppel said, but then forwards the violations to Chlebowski for assignment to a crew. CFH started with more than 800 lots to be mowed, Chlebowski said, and got behind as soon as it started. Earlier this month, he added four two-man crews to help CFH get caught up. By June 20, they were down to about 300 lots. The city workers came from the Solid Waste Department, the Street Department and the Water Works, he said. They are working 10-hour shifts Monday through Thursday, then eight hours of mandated overtime on Fridays. The workers volunteer for Saturday duty and are paid overtime for their eight-hour shift, Chlebowski said. Gary Gilot, the city's director of public works, hopes they will be caught up in about two weeks. In addition to the contract with CFH, the city launched an effort this year to consolidate the mowing tasks of several city departments that seemed to overlap and duplicate each other. Chlebowski said the Parks Department takes care of all of its property, in addition to all medians in the streets. The Sewer Department takes care of retention basins, while the Water Works takes care of well fields. The city is starting to coordinate those jobs, Chlebowski said. If the sewer department is working in an area near a well field, he said, he'll have them do the well field, too, "so we don't have people passing each other on the streets from different departments." Efficiency and cost-savings are the goals, Gilot said. But the goals haven't been met with the privatized Code Enforcement mowing, he admitted. "We're going through a learning curve,'' he said. The delinquent mowing "is not our proudest moment.'' "We didn't necessarily know all of the challenges we would run into,'' Gilot admitted. Among the unanticipated challenges, he said, is that the city's equipment sometimes can't be used on private lots. Residents of one southeast side neighborhood became frustrated this year with what they described as a lack of response to their complaints about an out-of-control lawn at an abandoned house at 1124 E. Donald St. The house has been vacant for several years. In the past, Code Enforcement would come out periodically to cut the grass, the neighbors said in a letter to The Tribune. But as of June 19, they hadn't cut the grass at all this year. Linda Ramirez and Marlin Gillen said they helped draft the letter, which also went to Code Enforcement. They complained about the house, also, which they said has become a home to at least three raccoons and a bunch of mice. The neighbors said Code did not respond to their letter. After I showed it to Toppel, she responded immediately. Within three hours, a two-man crew from the city showed up to cut the grass. The neighbors were thrilled. According to public records, the house is owned by Tamela and Michael Bowering Sr. Michael Bowering now is deceased. "I thought the city took it,'' Tamela said. "I didn't know I had to mow the grass." She was referring to a decision last year by Code Enforcement to have the house demolished. Toppel said she had hoped to have it torn down last year, but Code ran out of money in its demolition fund. It now is scheduled to be done this year, with bid-letting to take place soon, she said. The city's demolition order does not mean that it is taking over the property, Toppel said. The Bowerings remain the owners, and they will remain responsible for maintaining the lot even after the house is gone, she said. That was a surprise to Bowering. "I just figured that that one was gone," she said. Meanwhile, the Bowerings owe the city more than $8,500 for unpaid bills related to the numerous mowings and cleanups of their property over the past three or four years. Nancy J. Sulok's columns appear on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays. You can reach her at nsulok@sbtinfo.com, or by writing c/o South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626, telephone (574) 235-6234.